Inflatable boats

ABSTRACT

An inflatable boat ( 1 ) formed in particular from flexible inflatable tubes ( 2 ) which have, substantially at the ends of same, relatively rigid tensioning members ( 3, 3   a ), such as rings, holding the walls of the tubes apart in the same shape as when the tube is inflated. The boat also has, in the walls of the floats of said boat, openings that are hermetically closable and of much larger dimensions than inflating valves.

The present invention is an inflatable boat that, in particular, has theadvantage of being much faster to inflate and deflate than aconventional inflatable boat, which is advantageous, in particular, fordinghies of sailboats that are not large enough to have an inflateddinghy in position, and in general for those that do not have a locationfor storing a boat.

The principle is to extend the boat before inflating it. Thus its floatsare almost filled with air at atmospheric pressure before inflatingthem, only to increase their internal pressure. Another advantage, forsafety, is that if a float is punctured it approximately retains itsshape and therefore its safety volume while on a conventional inflatableboat, the float collapses and loses safety volume.

For this, the inflatable boat is formed, inter alia, from inflatableflexible tubes, and at least one of these inflatable tubes hasapproximately at each end a relatively rigid tensioning membermaintaining the wall of the inflatable tube separated substantially inthe same form as when the inflatable tube is inflated.

These tensioning members can be a loop, a batten attached on theperiphery of the inflatable tube, for example arch, batten, slippedbetween the wall of the inflatable tube and a band attached on itsperimeter, forming a sleeve, leaving a passage for the arch, the batten,such as the battens that are slid into a sail. The advantage of an arch,of a batten, is that they retain a certain elasticity in order to absorba shock against a sailboat, for example; on the other hand, for safety,it may be necessary that a strut be connected at the interior of theinflatable tube the high and low part of the arch, the latte, strutsufficiently strong to support the weight of a person who would sit onthe batten before the boat is inflated and launched into the water. Thistensioning member can also be simply a plate attached across theinflatable tube, bored for allowing passing air into the latter, andplacing a protection made of foam or rubber at the exterior againstshocks if this plate is hard, as plywood for example; unless it isdirectly a rubber, foam, polymer plate that has the ability to return toits original shape even after large deformation.

It is now necessary, in order that the inflatable tubes be stretchedbetween the tensioning members, that the latter be in place; for this,first, two tensioning members located at the same height of the boat,one to port the other to starboard, can be held apart from one anotherby a rigid part, in particular, the two rear tensioning members areattached to the transom of the boat. This can also be by a batten. Ingeneral, the tensioning members are held apart from each other by thefloor of the boat, substantially in the same positions they have oncethe boat in inflated. It can be advantageous to have a rigid floorlongitudinally, the rear end of which comes to rest against the transomon which are attached two rear tensioning members and its front end cometo push the two front tensioning members. The floor, if it is too longfor storage, can be divided into two parts interconnected by a hingethat can be locked. Certain inflatable boats have a few slats attachedtransversely for a floor; weakly rigid longitudinally, it may bedesirable to install other tensioning members between those of the endsof the inflatable tubes. These boats can be temporarily stretched, bygravity for example, if they are raised or lowered vertically from asailboat, for example, or by blocking a paddle between a batten and thetransom, or with two people pulling one in front, the other behind theinflatable boat. This tension is necessary only a few seconds, the timeto close two openings with their stoppers.

In fact, the inflatable boat has, in addition to inflation valves, atleast one opening that can be hermetically sealed in the wall of one ofits inflatable tubes, opening having dimension much larger than that ofan inflation valve, thus being able to pass much more air than thelatter. An inflation valve open, it takes approximately one hundredseconds for a float of a 2.6 m boat to empty. If one does not wish to beslowed during the assembly, from the tensioning of the boat which occursfor example in 10 seconds, by the lack of speed of air into the float,an opening of at least 10 times greater than the inflation valve isrequired. In order to decrease the number of parts to be attached to theboat, one may have an opening hermetically sealed by a stopper and anattached inflation valve, molded in this stopper.

Finally for the folding, the transom on the boat is refolded multipletimes, wrapping it around the transom. It is therefore required, asincidentally for the floors with the transverse slats, that thetensioning members be located just in the front of a refolding, to bepressed against the transom when it is turned up and engaged by itduring subsequent refolding. Moreover, for the forward tensioningmembers in particular, if they are tilted with respect to the axis ofthe boat, they must be sufficiently spaced from each other so that, whenthey are installed in parallel at the transom, the canvas that connectsthem will not be too short so as to interfere with this movement.

Moreover, these forward tensioning members have on each a downwardextension toward the interior of the boat, which can be attached to thecanvas of the base of the boat, on which will push a part of the floor,for example a bar attached across it hanging over two sides, atapproximately 20 to 40 centimeters from the front of the flooring.

A good seal strength of the floor if it is at least two members is madeby jacketing, a part of one sliding in a part of the other.

Each waterproof stopper provided with inflation valve openings can bealso bound to a cover provided with an inflation valve, a tubehermetically attached to the former is also hermetically in contact withthe cover, forming a waterproof volume, cover movable relative to thestopper, increasing or reducing this volume, thereby forming aninflator. This tube can be made of flexible waterproof canvas, forming abellows or rigid, and the cover slides therein. A handle is attached tothe cover.

Finally, the substantial safety of this boat being such that evenpunctured it keeps approximately its volume, a plus is to increasesafety also under the waterline to prevent water from entering into theinflated tubes through a puncture. The canvas at the bottom of the boatis not glued under the floats, as existing inflatables, but on the outersides of the latter, substantially at mid-height of the latter, at theheight of the anti chafing band, forming with these floats a double wallfor the submerged part of the boat.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention in a non-limitingfashion:

FIG. 1 shows the inflatable boat unfolded.

FIG. 2 shows the inflatable boat extended and its port side inflatedwith its opening closed.

FIG. 3 shows the stopper and its cover forming an inflator, top view

FIGS. 4 and 5 show this inflator in cross section.

FIG. 6 shows in cross section the boat and its canvas glued on theexterior sides of the inflatable floats.

Referring to its drawings, the inflatable boat (1) is formed from 5flexible tubes for example made of canvas coated with PVC coated fabricfor waterproofing it, glued or knitted canvas to form the aforementionedtubes (2) which are subsequently glued or knitted between themselves andat the rear glued or knitted to a plywood plate forming the transom (6).Two arches (3) made of round stainless steel spring are slipped into aband of fabric (21) forming a sleeve glued on the periphery and at theintersection of the front inflatable tubes (2). A ring (3 a) cut inplywood is glued to the interior of the tubes (2), at the intersectionof the two central tubes. Port side is a round stainless steel spring(3) that is placed in a sleeve at the intersection of the two centraltubes (2), round reinforced by a stay (8) made of plywood glued to theinterior of the tubes (2), between the top and bottom of the roundstainless steel spring (3). Two battens (3) made of fiberglass partlysurround the rear sections of the inflatable tubes (2) tubes by beingslipped into a band of fabric glued to its periphery. The ends of thesebattens (3) are slipped into aluminum profiles screwed on the rear wallof the transom (6). Two small and two large circular cutouts are made inthe front tubes (2); in the small ones inflation valves (4) will beglued, and in the large ones (5) threaded rings will be glued in which astopper will be hermetically screwed. A floor (7) made of two partshinged together at the back in the housings attached to the transom (6)and is slipped to the front under the front tube (2) and on the canvasof the boat (1). a crosstie screwed on the top front of the floor (7)pushes the front arches (3). a [fiberglass batten slat (6 a) is glued onthe canvas bottom (10) of the boat between the two central tensioningmembers (3,3 a). The stopper (51) that waterproof seals the opening (5)can be screwed into a thread surrounding the latter, gripping atensioning ring on the top of this threading. This cup-shaped stopper(51) is sealed by a cover (52), a tube (53) made of canvas glued to aside at the bottom of the cup and the other under the cover (52), abored cover (52) and stopper (51), a plate, under the pressure of aspring closing this bore, forming an inflation valve (4). A handle (9)made of canvas is glued or screwed on this cover.

The bottom canvas (10) is glued on the exterior of the inflatable tubes(2) under the anti chafing band (11).

1-12. (canceled)
 13. An inflatable boat comprising: a plurality ofinflatable flexible tubes, the plurality of inflatable tubes including afirst inflatable tube defining a first end and a second end; a firsttensioning member located approximately at the first end, the firsttensioning member being configured to hold a part of the firstinflatable tube in substantially the same shape as when the firstinflatable tube is inflated; a second tensioning member locatedapproximately at the second end, the second tensioning member beingconfigured to hold another part of the first inflatable tube insubstantially the same shape as when the first inflatable tube isinflated; an inflation valve in the first inflatable tube; and anopening in the first inflatable tube, the opening having a dimensionmuch greater than a dimension of the inflation valve, the openingthereby being configured to pass more air than the inflation valve. 14.An inflatable boat according to claim 13 wherein the first tensioningmember has an arch shape.
 15. An inflatable boat according to claim 13wherein the second tensioning member is in front of the first tensioningmember, and the boat further includes a third tensioning member; afourth further tensioning member in front of the third tensioningmember; a transom attached to the first and third tensioning members; alongitudinally rigid floor, defining rear end abutting against thetransom and a front end pushing on the second and fourth members to holdthe second and fourth tensioning members in substantially the samepositions as when the boat is inflated.
 16. An inflatable boat accordingto claim 13 wherein the first tensioning member is slid between thefirst inflatable tube and a band.
 17. An inflatable boat according toclaim 13 wherein the first tensioning member includes a plate attachedacross the first inflatable tube.
 18. An inflatable boat according toclaim 13 further including a strut, in the first inflatable tube, strongenough to withstand the weight of a person.
 19. An inflatable boataccording to claim 17 wherein the plat is bored to allow passage of airtherein.
 20. An inflatable boat according to claim 15 further includinga rigid piece holding two of tensioning members apart from each other.21. An inflatable boat according to claim 13 further including a stopperfor the opening; a tube; and a cover, the stopper, tube, and coverforming an inflator.
 22. An inflatable boat according to claim 13further including a canvas glued to an external side of the firstinflatable tube, and not glued to a bottom of the first inflatable tube.